Let's All Have a Moment of Silence for the Newtown School Shooting Victims

ThylacineAlive

ThylacineAlive

Well-Known Member
10+ year member
I'm sure most of you have heard by now but there has been a massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in the Connecticut town of Newtown merely 10 minutes from my home. About 20 children, all kindergardeners, have been killed and 8 adults including the gunmans mother who worked at the school. In addition two people are missing who have close relations to the gunman and his family. I have personally been witness to effects as the news rattled and echoed its way through my community. I just want us all to join together, pray, and offer a moment of silence to the victims, the friends, and the families of the victims who have been effected by this tragedy........





...... Thank you:(
 
Living less than a hundred miles from Dunblane, the sadness comes flooding back.
Our thoughts are with the community of Newtown.
Our hearts are broken.
 
It's truly heartbreaking to hear stories like these. I live only about 30 minutes away from where this happened, and I am honestly devestated to hear this. I pray for the teachers, who had to bear witness to this horrific event. The parents, some of them who will never see their children go to college, will never see their children get married, and won't get grandchildren. And most of all, the surviving children. To watch some of their fellow classmates die, and feel that they will be next, and the younger ones who don't understand what act of evil they just witnessed... I am choked up right now thinking about it. One can be prepared to lose their grandparents, their parents, and even their spouse as they grow up, but nothing can prepare you for the loss of your child.
To all those parent ZooChatters on there, hug your children right now, and thank the Lord that He has blessed your young ones, and pray that He takes care of the young ones... that have been lost.
 
My condolences to all the families that suffered losses today, as well as our fellow ZooChat members living nearby.
 
Blackduiker said:
My condolences to all the families that suffered losses today, as well as our fellow ZooChat members living nearby.
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Thank you and I'm sure BeardsleyZooFan feels the same way. When I first heard the news I heard just the elementary school so my heart stopped at the moment when I thought it was my sister's school:( I'm thankful it wasn't but I'm so sorry it happened elsewhere. After I heard I noticed that my school district, just a man-made lake away from Newtown, has little security measures up to defend us from events such as this. My sister's school leaves the front door open half the time for Christ's sake!! And my mother got into the middle school through a door that was opened by someone leaving the school! Hopefully school security will be beefed up soon- for the kid's sake.
 
Let's not forget to pray for the police and others who are and were forced to face that horrifying scene for hours upon hours because it's their job. That should be no one's job...:(:(
 
Normally I couldn't be bothered by news of mass shootings in America, suicide bombings in the Middle East, sex scandals in France/Italy, protests in Greece, and floods in Bangladesh. It feels like all of my life I have been hearing the same stories over and over so I have become desensitised.

However, this particular mass shooting really struck a nerve. Dude, wtf? Twenty kids less than ten years old? What kind of psycho does that? I felt Obama's pain. :( Hold strong folks.
 
This was absolutely horrifying! The age of the children involved and the scenes the surviving kids had to endure and/or try to block out (depends on what papers you read) is heartbreaking. No child should endure that!
I echo nanoboy and his sentiments on the subject but then I also agree with his horror at this tragedy. My heart goes out to those affected by this.

And one more thing, America needs to sort out their gun control policy and stop listening to the NRA, regardless of how many politicians agree with them! Gun control is not a bad thing, look at the recent tragedies and WAKE UP!
 
I am sure that there are people on this forum who have and use firearms, and I am sure that all of them are decent, responsible people. Quite how an obviously very disturbed young man got hold of a gun I can't begin to imagine. Like the oddballs in Dunblane and Hungerford, he should never have been able to get hold of a firearm.

It's worthwhile remembering that Dunblane (certainly) was the result of a man who had a valid licence. So it's worthwhile remembering that no jurisdiction is, nor ever can be, perfect.
 
IanRRobinson said:
I am sure that there are people on this forum who have and use firearms, and I am sure that all of them are decent, responsible people. Quite how an obviously very disturbed young man got hold of a gun I can't begin to imagine. Like the oddballs in Dunblane and Hungerford, he should never have been able to get hold of a firearm.

It's worthwhile remembering that Dunblane (certainly) was the result of a man who had a valid licence. So it's worthwhile remembering that no jurisdiction is, nor ever can be, perfect.
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This all true, but in the light of the utterly ghastly recent events, it's worth checking this out: Australia?s 1996 gun law reforms: faster falls in firearm deaths, firearm suicides, and a decade without mass shootings -- Chapman et al. 12 (6): 365 -- Injury Prevention

It's gotta be worth a go.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
...I noticed that my school district ...has little security measures up to defend us from events such as this. My sister's school leaves the front door open half the time... Hopefully school security will be beefed up soon- for the kid's sake.
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Yes, but it is a sad statement that we even need to have locked gates on schools.

Of course our hearts break over this and there is nothing that I or anyone else could say here to make it better.

As for how he could get a gun, apparently they were registered to his mother. I am one of the minority of Americans who think we do need gun control, but the fact of the matter is the Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms and you cannot enforce any serious gun control without removing that Constitutional Amendment. In the USA, that will never happen. I guarantee you the powerful gun lobby would say the solution to this tragedy is MORE guns - the teachers or school guards need to be armed.

Sometimes I think I should just move to Europe. :( (And of course any gun fanatics who see this would agree and say to me "good riddance").
 
Arizona Docent said:
I guarantee you the powerful gun lobby would say the solution to this tragedy is MORE guns - the teachers or school guards need to be armed.
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Bafflingly, I've seen more than one US pundit already saying this.

Evidence from comparable nations is that regulation/banning of certain types of gun does successfully drive down deaths by firearms quite significantly. Whether the American government or electorate will choose to pursue this I'm not so sure.
 
IanRRobinson said:
We're on the same side here. :) I am, however, wary of the effect that Englishmen holding forth can have on others, which was the point I was looking to make.
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Yes, I'm not going to hold forth too strongly as I know it's an emotive topic on all sides and there are no easy answers in the circumstances. I just wanted to make the point that there is solid evidence that gun control works, as this is often denied.
 
Arizona Docent said:
Yes, but it is a sad statement that we even need to have locked gates on schools.

Of course our hearts break over this and there is nothing that I or anyone else could say here to make it better.

As for how he could get a gun, apparently they were registered to his mother. I am one of the minority of Americans who think we do need gun control, but the fact of the matter is the Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms and you cannot enforce any serious gun control without removing that Constitutional Amendment. In the USA, that will never happen. I guarantee you the powerful gun lobby would say the solution to this tragedy is MORE guns - the teachers or school guards need to be armed.

Sometimes I think I should just move to Europe. :( (And of course any gun fanatics who see this would agree and say to me "good riddance").
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Having just taught the 2nd Amendment in class last week, the "gun enthusiasts," led by a man with a highly comical name (Wayne LaPierre), have no real leg to stand on.

The first four words of the Amendment read "A well-regulated militia..." (Emphasis mine)

Gun control is written in there just as clear as day. The government has every right to enforce as much control as is seen fit.
 
Arizona Docent said:
I am one of the minority of Americans who think we do need gun control, but the fact of the matter is the Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms and you cannot enforce any serious gun control without removing that Constitutional Amendment. In the USA, that will never happen.
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The right to own slaves was also once in the constitution...

@Brum- Amen
 
The thought of those unwrapped presents left untouched under the tree on Christmas morning saddens me the most. It's all so surreal, even now. All I can offer is my condolences, and that clearly won't ease the pain. I can't even begin to imagine how the parents are feeling, and how it's going to affect them in the coming years.
 
jbnbsn99 said:
No it wasn't.
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Well then my 8th grade history textbook was wrong.

I'm going to Newtown tomorrow leave a card, short letter, and 20 hand-made (1 for each child) ducktape flowers. It seems many are just focusing on the tragedy of the children being killed but seven innocent adults (who were the children of someone) also parished and my condolenses go out to the families of those people as well.

@AnaheimZoo- I thought the same thing

:(:(:(:(:(:(
 
Well it did not take long for me to have my point proven (that I would hear someone saying more guns is the solution). Tonight, in between my previous post and this one, I went downtown (Tucson) for an annual luminaria festival at the Presidio. This is a small scale reproduction of the original Spanish fort and the festivities feature people in 1700's period costume as Spanish soldados (soldiers). I heard one of the soldados telling some visitors they needed to have a teacher with a gun to take the guy out.
 
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